Outside Publication: International Journal of Coal Geology
Many coal beds contain microbial communities that can convert coal to natural gas (coalbed methane). Native microorganisms were obtained from Powder River Basin (PRB) coal seams with a diffusive microbial sampler placed downhole and used as an inoculum for enrichments with different nutrients to investigate microbially-enhanced coalbed methane production (MECoM)...

Outside Publication: Fuel
Coal seam degasification improves coal mine safety by reducing the gas content of coal seams and also by generating added value as an energy source. Coal seam reservoir simulation is one of the most effective ways to help with these two main objectives. As in all modeling and simulation studies, how the reservoir is defined and whether observed productions can be predicted are important considerations...

USGS Publication: Open-File Report 2014-1207
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled a database consisting of three worksheets of central Appalachian basin natural gas analyses and isotopic compositions from published and unpublished sources of 1,282 gas samples from Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia...

USGS Publication: Digital Data Series 69-II
This report presents a digital map of coalbed-gas resource assessments in the United States as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Assessment of Oil and Gas Project. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS quantitatively estimated potential volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas resources within coalbed-gas assessment units (AUs).

Outside Publication: Journal of Applied Geophysics
Prediction of potential methane emission pathways from various sources into active mine workings or sealed gobs from longwall overburden is important for controlling methane and for improving mining safety. The aim of this paper is to infer strata separation intervals and thus gas emission pathways from standard well log data. The proposed technique was applied to well logs acquired through the Mary Lee/Blue Creek coal seam of the Upper Pottsville Formation in the Black Warrior Basin, Alabama, using well logs from a series of boreholes aligned along...

Outside Publication: International Journal of Coal Geology
Organic substances in produced and formation water from coalbed methane (CBM) and gas shale plays from across the USA were examined in this study. Results from five CBM plays and two gas shale plays (including the Marcellus Shale) show a myriad of organic chemicals present in the produced and formation water. Organic compound...

2007–2010, in Wainwright, Alaska

USGS Publication: Open-File Report 2014–1004
The U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the North Slope Borough, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation conducted a four-year study designed to identify, define, and delineate a shallow coalbed natural gas (CBNG) resource with the potential to provide locally produced, affordable power to the community of Wainwright, Alaska.

Overview

Photo: Coalbed exposed in outcrops of the
Sagavanirktok Formation along the
Shaviovik River in the east-central part of
the North Slope, Alaska.

Methane and other gases, while frequently produced with petroleum, also occur in association with coal. Coalbed gas accounts for about eight percent of U.S. natural gas production. U.S. estimates (Rice, 1997) indicate more than 700 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of coalbed gas in place, with over 100 TCF economically recoverable--a five-year supply at present rates of consumption.

The USGS Energy Resources Program assesses potential U.S. coalbed gas resources including controls on the occurrence and recoverability, (including produced water) and geologic, geochemical, engineering, and technological factors.

Research

Environmental Considerations

Environmental Considerations

The USGS Energy Resources Team examines environmental considerations with coalbed natural gas development (CBNG) nationwide. A major portion of this is on water co-produced with CBNG, which is provided in the Energy Program’s "Produced Waters" topic.